A Little Love
by Genocide Never Again
Summary: We all know that Yanagi makes weird juices but what happens when he makes one that turns the drinker chibi? Featuring a chibi Marui and HaruMaru goodness. Enjoy! Genre is general because it fits into too many different genres
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis. If I did then Rikkai would've won because they are the best and there is no way a kid could beat someone who can cause others to lose their senses. (I do like Ryoma, I just prefer Rikkai)

Just a side note, but this chapter has a couple of references to one of my other stories called 'Puri Tea'. You don't have to read it but you might want to to get the references. It's not vital though. Now, on with the story!

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**_Prologue_**

_Renji,_

_Attached to this email is a document containing the recipe for a new juice that I have developed. Unfortunately, I have been banned from distributing my juices at practice for the next month so I was wondering if you could gather the data for me. I have based it upon some of my more successful juices so it should provide great punishment, er, motivation as well as some amusing reactions when people have to drink it. Perfect for gathering data._

_Hoping to hear from you soon,_

_Sadaharu_

Yanagi read through the email once more before glancing at the recipe. Inui had gone to town on this recipe. It certainly did look like it would produce some interesting reactions but was he sadistic enough to make it? He usually left sadism to Yukimura who was much more well-versed in the field. Then again, Niou was the one who was supposed to pull pranks but just last week Jackal pulled one that left even the Trickster in awe of the results so you never knew. Besides, you couldn't survive at Rikkai without there being a little bit of evil in you…

Yanagi stared at the recipe for a few more moments before standing up and going to the kitchen to gather the ingredients. He was going to do it. The child in Yanagi was jumping up and down and clapping his hands in glee. Practice tomorrow was gonna be fun!

**_Chapter One_**

It was a normal day at Rikkai. Well, normal in the fact that the sky was blue and not green because this was Rikkai and nothing was normal there. It was after school and tennis practice was taking place. The regulars were taking part in some special training which basically consisted of pitching the regulars one by one against Yukimura. Marui was up first, having drawn the short straw, and despite his most valiant efforts he still ended up getting steamrollered. Yanagi walked up to the exhausted redhead, notebook in one hand and plastic cup in the other.

"Too bad, Marui. You'll have to drink this as a punishment." Yanagi said as he pushed the cup into Marui's hands.

"Eh? Why am I getting punished? I was up against Yukimura! _Yukimura!_" Marui protested as he looked worriedly down at the liquid in the cup. The drink kept changing between baby pink and baby blue. Marui shuddered; he didn't even want to _think_ how Yanagi got it to do that.

"Now, Marui, don't be a spoilsport. I've given Renji my permission. Also, Renji, don't call it a punishment, it's motivation remember?" Yukimura smiled.

"Ah. My bad." Yanagi said as he scribbled something down in his notebook. Marui gulped and thought about what he could do. On one hand he could refuse to do drink it; on the other hand, if he refused, Yukimura could kick him off the team.

"Marui?" The boy looked up at Yukimura and back at the drink. He gulped again and made his decision.

"Fine, I'll drink it." Before he could change his mind, Marui downed it in one. As the last drop trickled down his throat, Marui dropped the cup and his tennis racket and fled to the bathroom.

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to adjust the flavour." Yanagi said, frowning a little at his data. He looked up at the rest of the regulars. "Who's next?" The regulars all stepped away from Niou. He glared at them as he stepped on to the court.

"Puri." He said with a scowl as he started the match. Fifteen minutes later, the match was finished and Marui still hadn't returned. Yanagi made his way towards Niou who backed away. "No way, uh uh, I'm not going anywhere near that stuff until Marui comes back _alive_." Niou said firmly.

"Marui is taking a long time." Yukimura agreed. "Why don't you go and look for him, Niou? That way we can get on with the next match and you don't have to wait as long to find out if you can have Renji's drink." Niou nodded and quickly ran off the courts before Yukimura could change his mind and let Yanagi shove it done his throat. Niou still hadn't forgotten the Puri Tea incident.

The first place Niou checked was the bathroom. He found Marui in the stall closest to the door, puking his guts out. Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed tensai, he had emptied his stomach about ten minutes ago and all that was left was bile that burned his throat and caused his eyes to water. Marui gave one last heave before sitting back and wrapped his arms round himself, shivering and sweating at the same time. Niou flushed the toilet and kneeled down next to Marui, rubbing his back a little.

"How ya feeling, Maru?" Niou asked. Marui didn't answer and tears kept rolling down his cheeks as he took in shaky breaths. Niou used his free hand to wipe away the tears, frowning a little at the heat radiating off the other boy. Niou pasted on a weak smirk. "Hey, Marui, get ill on Bonfire Night so we can use you instead of a fire. All the warmth, none of the smoke." He joked weakly. Marui's only response was to curl up into a tight ball. The smirk slipped back into a frown and Niou carefully picked up the redhead, intending to take him to the clubroom so he could look at him properly. He was just at the bathroom door when it swung open. "Jackal?"

"It's started to rain so practice has been cancelled." The Brazilian explained. He looked down at the boy in Niou's arms. "How is he?"

"Ill." Niou said shortly as he pushed past Jackal and walked into the locker room. "Knew Yanagi's juices were dangerous." Jackal grinned a little.

"You never did get over the Puri Tea incident, did you?" He asked humorously.

"Nope, puri." Niou said as the other regulars came up to them. He glared at Yanagi. "Hope you're happy now." Yanagi frowned, glancing at his notes.

"That is strange. Marui is not allergic to any of the ingredients. Maybe the combination…?" Yanagi pondered. Yukimura stepped forward and gently moved a few strands away from the sweaty forehead, frowning slightly.

"Does anybody know if his parents can pick him up?" He asked the rest of the team. He was met with blank looks except from Jackal who shook his head.

"His parents are both away on business trips and his brothers are away on a school trip." Jackal explained. "None of them are going to back until next Sunday." Yukimura's face darkened a little bit more.

"I guess we'll have to take him home ourselves." Yukimura decided. "Are you okay carrying Marui, Niou?" The boy in question nodded.

"Somebody'll have to carry my bag though." He said as he shifted his grip on Marui. The tensai whimpered a little and Niou stopped moving. Yukimura nodded, looking sympathetically at Marui.

"Okay. Genichirou, can you get Niou's bag, and Jackal, can you get Marui's?" The two nodded as they grabbed the extra bags. "Now, unless there's anything else, I think we'd better going before the rain gets any worse." Yukimura finished and shouldered his bag. He started towards the door before stopping suddenly and looking over his shoulder at Yanagi, smiling eerily. "Oh, and Renji? If anything happens to Marui than it's your neck on the line." Yanagi felt a shiver go down his spine and nodded quickly.

The regulars ran as fast they could through the rain. They didn't bother with the bus; the rain was getting heavier by the minute so all bus services would probably be cancelled or delayed so much that there would be no point. It took them half an hour of slipping and sliding before they reached the Marui household. They were soon inside thanks to the key in Marui's bag which was fished out by Jackal. They raided the cupboard for towels and quickly changed into their school uniforms which thankfully were still dry thanks to their bags. There were more comfy things in the world to wear but their uniforms were the only things that they had on hand besides their tennis uniforms which were soaked.

Niou and Jackal took Marui to his bedroom and dried him off and changed him into his pyjamas before tucking him in and joining the queue to the bathroom to get changed. Niou came back into the bedroom about fifteen minutes later with a bowl of cold water and a cloth that had been provided by Yagyuu. Niou almost dropped the bowl in surprise when he saw an empty bed.

"Oi, Marui, where are you? This better not be a joke or I'll honestly kill you." Niou said warily as he set down the bowl on the chest of drawers and looked around the room. His eyes settled on a small lump underneath the duvet that he had missed before. Niou crept forward and gently took the corners of the duvet cover before ripping it off. He looked down and blinked at what he saw. In front of him, curled up and snoring away without a care in the world, was a mini Marui.

The mini Marui shivered at the sudden cold and stirred. He sat up blinking blearily, smiling a little dazedly as Niou's face swam into view.

"Hi, Niou. Have you gotten taller? You seem bigger than before." Marui asked innocently as he rubbed sleep from his eyes before frowning. "What's wrong with my voice? And why are my pyjamas so big? I swear, Niou, if this is your idea of a prank…"

"It isn't. And I haven't gotten taller, you've just gotten…smaller." Niou said somewhat confusedly. Well wouldn't you be? Marui raised an eyebrow.

"Really, Niou? That's a stupid trick, even for you." Niou's eye twitched slightly.

"Before calling me stupid, you might want to take a look at yourself." He said somewhat icily. Marui looked at him uncertainly before looking down at his small body. He blinked once. Twice. Several more times. And a couple of more times just for the heck of it.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

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**A/N:** So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Think it's moving too fast or too slow? Feel free to tell me! Reviews are more awsome then hugs and hugs are what make the world go round! See ya next time! Bai bai!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis unfortunately. Sigh, all those lost yaoi moments...

Okay, so here's the second chapter of 'A Little Love'. Enjoy, puri~!_**

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Chapter Two

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The rest of the regulars came rushing into the bedroom and stopped dead at what they saw. Marui and Niou looked up at the sudden intrusion and Marui's eyes narrowed as they homed in one Yanagi.

"Yanagi! What have you done to me? I'm gonna kill-whoa!" Marui's rant was cut short as he took a step forward and tripped over the hem of his pyjama shirt. Luckily Niou caught him before he could fall all the way to the floor and bang his head. Niou stood up, keeping his hold on the mini tensai lest he cause any more potential harm to himself. The regulars stared at the duo, all of them too in shock to really do anything else. The first one to come out of their stupor was Akaya as his eyes turned sparkly.

"Aww, Kawaii-senpai!" He squealed as he bounded over to Niou and Marui. "Marui-senpai, you are so _cuuuute_! Can I hold you? Please? Can I? Can I, can I, can I?"

"I am not cute, I am handsome, and I am not your plaything!" Marui glared at his kouhai. Unfortunately for him, it came out more as a pout which caused Akaya to squeal even more. Fortunately for him, the other regulars had come to and had the sense to pull the second year away.

"Calm down, Akaya. I don't think Marui appreciates the loud noise and I'm pretty sure that Niou doesn't like it either." Yukimura said. Akaya immediately shut up and paled as he looked at Niou. He didn't want to annoy the Trickster; he was still getting over last time. Gods, the humiliation…

Marui looked up and saw that Niou did indeed look sour at the noise. Whilst he was glad that the look had shut Akaya, he didn't particularly want to be near Niou when he was that annoyed. Fortunately Yagyuu noticed and took the mini tensai off of Niou.

"I think you're scaring Marui-kun, Niou-kun." He explained as he carefully stopped the pyjama shirt from slipping off any further. "How are you feeling, Marui-kun? Besides the obvious, of course." He quickly added at Marui's sceptical look.

"Well, besides the obvious, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Marui asked, wide eyes blinking innocently and causing everybody (i.e. me) to momentarily melt at the cuteness.

"You had a fever earlier." Yukimura explained as he ruffled the boy's fair, ignoring the scowl that it earned him. "It seems to be gone now, though." Yanagi stepped forward.

"I think that that was probably because of the changes his body were going through as he made the transition from a fifteen-year-old to a…how old are you, Marui?" Yanagi asked. Marui but his lip as he thought.

"Um, I think I might be around five-years-old maybe. I'm not really sure." Marui admitted. Yanagi nodded.

"As he made the transition from a fifteen-year-old to a maybe five-year-old." He finished. Everybody nodded at the explanation before Sanada spoke up.

"What are we going to do? It's all very well figuring this stuff out but what are we going to do? Marui is five, his parents are out of town and it's not like we could really tell them if they were here." Sanada pointed out. Everybody was stumped by that one but Yukimura spoke up smiling.

"We'll look after Marui. We've got the week off next week so we'll just tell our parents that Marui is ill and that since his parents are away we'll stay and look after him as an extended sleepover of sorts." He decided. "I suggest that everybody calls their parents now to avoid as little worry as possible on our parents part." Everybody nodded as they reached for their mobile phones when Marui spoke up.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't I get any say in this! Besides, it's all very well deciding who's going to look after me but what about changing me back? I don't want to grow up all over again!" Marui said with a sulky scowl.

"Aww, is Marui-senpai in a bad mood?" Akaya cooed as he patted Marui on the head. Marui swatted the offending hand away.

"Akaya, I am currently five-years-old. I think I'm allowed to be moody." Marui said. Niou smirked.

"Che, always knew you were a girl, Marui. Thank you for finally admitting it, puri." Marui opened and closed his mouth a few times before firmly shutting it and looking away with tears in his eyes. Akaya turned on Niou.

"Now look what you've done, Niou-senpai, you've made him cry." Akaya berated the Trickster as Marui desperately tried to wipe the tears away with his sleeves. Niou had the decency to a look a tiny bit guilty, if a bit offended.

"Do not worry, it is probably only the effect of the juice. The juice that Marui was given has probably not only changed his physical appearance but his mind as well. It seems that whilst Marui has retained his memories of being a teenager, allowing him to act more or less as he normally would, his mentality is now similar to that of when he was five meaning that things that wouldn't upset him normally now do upset him. Marui is merely reacting as any child would." Yanagi explained. "Also, do not worry, Marui. I will relay all my findings back to Sadaharu and we will work on a cure for your predicament." Marui nodded as he continued rubbing at his eyes, more tears leaking out as he got more and more frustrated at himself. Niou sighed and stepped forward.

"Don't rub your eyes so hard, you'll hurt them." Niou said as he used his sleeve to gently brush the tears away. Marui nodded, sniffling slightly as he buried his face in Yagyuu's shoulder. As this small exchange was going on, the rest of the regulars began phoning their parents and Yanagi phoned Inui. Within in the hour all of the regulars' parents had dropped by with clothes for the week, half of the mothers bringing various comfort foods 'to make Marui feel better'. The Yukimura's were the last parents to come, with a plastic bag full of clothes to go with Yukimura's suitcase. Yukimura dumped his suitcase in the living room, where they had all decided to sleep since the other rooms were too small, before making his way up to Marui's bedroom with the plastic bag.

The rest of the regulars were in the bedroom scoffing cookies made by Akaya's mother. Marui was currently sitting on Sanada's lap who was sitting on the bed. This arrangement had been made so that Marui didn't constantly fall over and so that Sanada couldn't slap them. Yukimura smiled as he grabbed a cookie and sat on the bed next to Sanada.

"What's in the bag, 'Mura-buchou?" Akaya asked as he licked crumbs off his thumb.

"Clothes that my little sister grew out of recently. She used to be the same size that Marui is now until she had a growth spurt. My mum was going to throw them away but I told her that Marui had a cousin the same age as my little sister and had asked if she could have them instead." Yukimura explained. "This way Marui will have clothes until Renji can change him back."

"You're not gonna make me wear a skirt, are you?" Marui asked uncertainly, quite prepared to run away if need be.

"Don't worry, Emiko **(1)** had several pairs of trousers. I'll only make you wear a skirt if you annoy me." Marui eep'ed and tried to scramble away. Yukimura laughed quietly. "Just joking. Now, why don't we get you changed into some clothes that fit, hmm?"

"Oooh, 'Mura-buchou, can I help choose?" Akaya asked excitedly. Yukimura nodded and Marui gulped as they started looking at the clothes, thankfully avoiding the skirts and not thankfully looking at all the pink tops. Fortunately, Niou came to his rescue.

"Instead of dressing him, why don't you just put his pyjamas on instead? If he really does act like a child then he'll get tired soon since it's gone six and if he doesn't get tired than at least we don't have to worry about changing him later and we'll have an extra set of clothes." Niou said as he reached over and plucked a pair of light blue pyjamas from the pile. Akaya pouted a little and nodded reluctantly as Yukimura's smile drooped fractionally as he also saw the reasoning behind the Trickster's words. Marui sent Niou a grateful look.

"Whilst Marui changes, why don't we set up the living room?" Jackal suggested. "I doubt we'll want to do it later and I don't think Marui would appreciate us watching him get changed."

"Aww, but I wanted to help Marui-senpai get changed." Akaya pouted. "Also, can I stop calling him 'senpai' since technically I'm older than him?"

"I can get changed myself and no, you cannot stop calling senpai. I might be trapped in a five-year-olds body but I'm still older than you." Marui huffed, crossing his arms.

"Actually, I think it would be better if somebody stayed in the room with Marui-kun." Yagyuu spoke up suddenly. Marui was about to protest but the Gentleman quickly cut in. "I know that you can dress yourself but you said it yourself, Marui-kun; you are currently trapped in a five-year-olds body and your body might not be as co-ordinated as it used to be as a result. I'm just suggesting that somebody should stay with you in case you fall over and hurt yourself or if you need any assistance with anything." Marui mulled over the words briefly before nodding. He didn't like the idea of somebody watching him but he liked the idea of getting hurt even less.

"Seiichi, Yagyuu and Niou all have younger siblings, so one of them should stay with Marui. Out of the three of them, Niou is the only one with a younger brother so he would probably be the best candidate." Yanagi said. Niou sighed but agreed and took Marui off Sanada.

"We'll go re-arrange the living then. The spare futons and blankets are still in the cupboard at the end of the hall, right?" Jackal asked. The redhead nodded. "Do you want us to bring up your nightwear, Niou?"

"Yeah, might as well. Less hassle later on." Niou said as the rest of the team made their way out of the room. He shut the door behind them before setting Marui down on the floor and handing him the pyjamas. Marui took them and looked between them and Niou hesitantly. Niou raised a bleached eyebrow. "Well?"

"Could you please turn round? This is kind of embarrassing…" Marui said quietly. Niou's mouth formed a small 'o' and he complied, turning round and facing the door. He heard some rustling as Marui pulled the clothes on and a bit of fumbling. The fumbling carried on for a couple of minutes, Marui making little noises of frustration. The small boy finally gave up and bit down on his pride. "Um, Niou? Could you please help me with the buttons? They're kinda fiddly and opposite **(2)** to what I'm used to…" Niou turned round and saw Marui blushing embarrassedly.

"Okay." He said as he knelt down and deftly did up all the buttons before ruffling the other boy's hair gently. "You don't have to be embarrassed, ya know. This isn't your fault and we're not gonna make fun of you. Well, maybe when you're back to normal we will but not until then."

"Thank you but it's still kinda embarrassing. I used to being able to do all this stuff by myself and now suddenly I need help with something as simple as buttoning up a shirt." Marui said, starting to sniffle a little. A look of annoyance flashed across his small face. "Ugh, stupid feelings! I hate being a kid!" Niou pulled him into hug and rubbed his back, remembering how he used calm his brother down when they were younger.

"Shhh. There there." Niou said soothingly. Marui buried his face in the other's shoulder, sniffling quietly. They stayed there for a few minutes before knocking on the door brought them out of their small world. Niou stood up, picking Marui up with him, the redhead rubbing his nose with a last couple of sniffs. "Come in!" Niou called out as he searched his pockets for a clean tissue. The door opened to reveal Akaya carrying a bundle of clothes.

"I've got your pyjamas, Niou-senpai." Akaya said as he handed the Trickster the bundle and took Marui off him. "We're having the chicken noodle soup that Yagyuu-senpai's mother brought for dinner. Also, when you've finished changing, could you get the duvet and pillows from Marui-senpai's bed and bring them downstairs?"

"Okay brat. Get out so I can get changed and I'll meet you guys downstairs." Niou shoved them out of the bedroom and shut the door. Akaya adjusted his grip on his small senpai and made his way towards the stairs.

"I can walk." Marui said though he made no move to get down. The tensai had just about given up fighting against his much bigger teammates.

"I know you can. It's just that you seem upset and when I'm upset I feel tired and weak and don't like walking." Akaya explained as he slowly walked down the stairs and into the living room. The living room had been re-arranged so that the two sofas were pushed against the wall facing the TV and the coffee table had been pushed to the left wall underneath the window. The sofas had been made into makeshift beds, the three spare futons had been laid on the floor along with two mounds of blankets and pillows. There was a space near the door where Marui assumed that his duvet and pillows would go.

The futons had already been claimed by Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi. Yagyuu had taken one of the makeshift sofa beds and Akaya set Marui down on the other sofa bed, leaving himself and Jackal with the blanket and pillow mounds. Marui was passed a bowl of chicken noodle soup which he began to slurp up hungrily. Niou came in a couple of minutes later, duvet and pillows trailing behind him. He quickly dragged them into something resembling a bed before flopping down on top of the duvet and reaching for the last bowl of soup. Somebody turned the TV on and a rerun of _Gremlins_ was on. Nobody could be bothered to find the remote so they all watched it.

Marui went into the kitchen to put his bowl in the sink (with much difficulty). He re-entered the living room just in time to see a gremlin jumping out of a Christmas tree. Marui would be lying if he said he wasn't scared by that. He scrambled back up on to his sofa and wrapped the blanket around him, shivering slightly as he watched the film. He felt his eyes drooping and he couldn't be more grateful as he saw the gremlins reproducing. He closed his eyes and sank into a land of less-scary-than-gremlins darkness…

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**A/N:** **(1) **I do not know Yukimura's sister's name so I just made one up. This will be the case with any family members (usually siblings) introduced throughout the story. If you know her real name thenjust tell me and I'll change it as soon as humanly possible. Promise.  
**(2) **Just a pointless piece of trivia that most people already know but for those of you who have forgotten, buttons on girls shirts are done up the opposite way to boys.

Okay, that's the second chapter down. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Thanks to all who have reviewed, favourited and/or alerted this story already! I love you guys! I'll probably be updating this story every couple of days so Chapter Three will be up on Thursday! Marui's first full day as a chibi! Kyaa! Until then! Bye!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Prince Of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi since I wasn't smart to think it up first. Or old enough._**

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Chapter Three

Marui shot up panting, looking around fitfully in the darkness. After his eyes got use to the darkness and he could confirm that there weren't any reptile-like creatures waiting to jump out and kill him, Marui's breath started to even out. He lied back down and closed his eyes only to have them snap open moments later as his nightmare came back to haunt him. After several minutes of tossing and turning, Marui slipped off the sofa and padded over to where Niou was snoring away.

"Niou…please wake up…Niou…" Marui whispered as he shook his shoulder. Niou grunted and flung one arm over his face, an icy blue eye glaring up at the other boy.

"Whaddaya want?" Niou growled out. Marui shrank back slightly.

"I had a nightmare. About gremlins." He whispered, his voice shaking a bit as his lip trembled. Niou moved his arm from his face and propped himself up on his arms, looking down at Marui.

"And why are you telling me?" Niou asked, his voice coming out a bit gruffer than he meant.

"W-well, 'Mura hates being woken up, Fukubuchou is scary at any time of the day, I'm not talking to Yanagi, if I woke Akaya up than he would get hyper and I feel awkward waking Yagyuu up. That's just leaves you and Jackal and Jackal is really hard to wake up so…" Marui mumbled, trailing off under Niou's gaze. Marui recoiled slightly and started to slink back to the sofa. "Sorry, I shouldn't have woken you…I'll just go back to bed…" Niou sighed through his nose and reached for the self-proclaimed tensai, pulling the boy against his chest and wrapping his arms around him in a loose embrace.

"Just go to sleep. I'll protect you from any scary creatures with weird Indian names." Niou murmured, his words slurring slightly. Marui nodded, wriggling slightly as he got comfy before yawning and closing his eyes. Niou watched him for a few minutes before sleep tugged at his own eyelids once again. He yawned and let darkness encompass him once more as he closed his eyes.

A bright light and the sound of giggling forced Niou to open his eyes. He sat up slowly, disentangling himself from the sleeping chibi, blinking as he got used to the light and acknowledged that it was morning, the curtains were open and that the one giggling was Akaya.

"Morning, Niou-senpai!" Akaya chirped, still giggling. Niou raised an eyebrow; Akaya was childish at times but he was rarely _this _happy. Jackal walked and gave Niou a sheepish smile.

"What time is it?" Niou yawned.

"10:30. Good morning, Niou. Sorry about Akaya. We had waffles for breakfast and nobody kept an eye on how much maple syrup he had." Jackal explained as he shoved Akaya out of the room and on to Sanada who was going for an after breakfast run. Hopefully the exercise would wear off the sugar and return Akaya to his usual, only slightly above hyper state. "Do you two want some breakfast?" Niou stretched and nodded as he stood up. He looked down to see Marui sitting up, yawning and looking ever so slightly confused.

Yukimura, Yanagi and Yagyuu looked up from their places around the dining table as Niou walked in, the mini Marui stumbling in behind him. Yagyuu picked up Marui and placed him on his lap as Niou sat in the seat opposite them. Yanagi placed a plate of waffles in front of each of them. Niou immediately dug in whilst Yukimura grabbed a fork and started feeding Marui.

"You're being a lot more compliant than I expected you to be, Marui." Yukimura commented as he fed Marui another forkful of waffle.

"I think he's too tired to care at the moment." Jackal said as he set some coffee in front of Niou and a cup of orange juice in front of Marui. "I have to admit, Niou, I was surprised to wake up and see Marui sleeping with you."

"He had a nightmare." Niou said as he gulped down the scalding liquid. "You were right when you said he would act like a kid, Yanagi. Apparently watching _Gremlins_ freaked him out." Yukimura frowned.

"But that's Marui's favourite film. Usually he laughs his head off. Strange." Yukimura remarked, the fork stilling as he looked up at Niou.

"Tell me about." Marui grumbled suddenly as he leaned forward and ate the waffle off the fork.

"Oh, hello, Marui. Glad to see you fully awake." Yukimura said as he relinquished the fork to Marui. "How are you feeling this morning?" Marui shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, I guess. I think I've more or less gotten used to being a chibi though it's still kind of annoying." Marui said as he finished his waffle and reached for his orange juice. No malice was intended but Yanagi still felt a stab of guilt as he hid behind his notebook. Marui drained his juice and slid off Yagyuu's lap. "I'm gonna get dressed."

"Will you be alright by yourself?" Jackal asked worriedly. Before Marui could answer, Niou dropped his fork on his plate with a 'clang' and put it and his cup in the sink.

"If you give me a couple of minutes to get my stuff I'll go with him." Niou said as he walked back to the living room. Marui nodded and waited in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Niou came out of the living room a few minutes later. "You okay getting up the stairs?"

"Of course!" Marui said sounding slightly offended. Niou just nodded as he started up the stairs, Marui scrambling to catch up since Niou walked at his normal pace. They went into the redhead's room and as Niou changed into some day clothes Marui looked through the clothes that Yukimura had left there yesterday. He finally decided on a pair of jeans with small green leaves and pink flowers embroidered on them and a plain blue T-shirt. He also picked up some socks and grimaced slightly as he gingerly picked up a pair of underwear. The sound of the door opening and closing informed him that Niou had left the room so Marui hurried up.

Marui walked into the bathroom where Niou was brushing his teeth. Next to the Niou was the blue plastic box seat that the Marui's kept all their spare bathroom stuff. It had been pulled up to the sink and Niou paused for a moment as he placed Marui on the box and passed him his own toothbrush and toothpaste. Marui mumbled a quick 'thanks' before starting to brush his teeth. Niou carried on cleaning his own teeth before leaning over and spitting out a glob of foamy toothpaste. He rinsed his mouth out before stepping back to wait for Marui. The small boy was silently grateful; the box was awfully high in his small state and the bathroom floor wasn't the most forgiving floor in the world to fall on. He quickly finished brushing his teeth and Niou picked Marui up, pushing the box back into position using his knees, before putting Marui down and making his way to the stairs.

Marui was just hopping down the last few steps when the front door opened. Sanada and Akaya came in, the latter panting like a dog. Sanada closed the door as Akaya collapsed to the floor.

"Fukubuchou…is…a demon…" He gasped, drinking in lungfuls of air. Niou smirked.

"Well duh. I thought that was implied by the nickname 'The Three Demons'." He sneered.

"Shut up, Niou-senpai!" Akaya snapped, glaring up at the smirking Trickster. The anger turned into disappointment as he saw Marui. "Aww, I wanted to pick Marui-senpai's clothes!"

"Be a good boy today and we'll let you pick them tomorrow, bratling." Niou said condescendingly as Akaya stood up. Akaya scowled but chose to ignore Niou, instead turning to Marui.

"Ne, Marui-senpai, can I brush your hair?" He asked, eyes sparkling slightly. Marui sighed but nodded. His kouhai cheered as they walked into the living room. Yagyuu and Jackal were just finishing putting all the blankets to the side of the room next to their bags as Yukimura sat on the sofa and watched. Akaya bounded over to his bag, only just missing Yanagi who was talking on his mobile, and took out a brush. He walked back over to Marui, who was sitting on the sofa that Yukimura wasn't sitting on, and sat next to him. Brandishing the brush like a weapon, he started to brush Marui's hair as Sanada walked in with a glass of water and Yanagi snapped his phone shut.

"So, what's the plan of action for toady?" Jackal said as he cautiously sat on top of a pile of blankets. Everybody, except Akaya, looked towards Yukimura.

"Well, there's no point in wasting the holiday doing nothing. I got permission from the school to use the school tennis courts so I was thinking we could do some practice." Yukimura said. Marui looked at him sharply, wincing a bit as the brush hit a knot.

"Yukimura, you can't expect me to go out looking like this!" He complained as Akaya tried to get him to sit still. Surprisingly, Yanagi agreed with him.

"Actually, Seiichi, I was hoping to stay here with Marui and ask him a few questions. Sadaharu wants some data so that we know exactly what went wrong and how to go about making a cure." Yanagi stated, looking at the captain with his closed eyes. "Also, I believe that one of us should take stock of what food we have so we know when to go shopping. I'll be quite happy to do it once I've finished questioning Marui." Yukimura mulled the idea over before nodding.

"Okay then. We'll go as soon as everybody is ready." Everybody was ready and they reached for their tennis bags, except Akaya who spoke up.

"Just a minute, I'm almost finished here. Does anybody have a hair clip?" He asked. Yukimura dug around in his pocket and extracted a light blue hair clip with a darker blue flower attached to it.

"Here you go, I usually use it when I haven't got my headband with me." Yukimura said as he handed the clip to Akaya who accepted it gratefully. He used the brush to the carefully sweep some of Marui's hair to the side before gently pushing the clip in. He stepped back and admired his work. Marui glared at him.

"I really hate you right now, Akaya." He stated plainly.

"Aww, but Marui-senpai, you look so cute." Akaya gushed happily.

"I have to admit, it does look quite fetching on you, Marui-kun." Yagyuu said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. Marui pouted. Yukimura bit his lip lightly to keep himself from laughing; something told him that Marui would not appreciate it.

"Well, since everybody is now ready, we'd better get going. Renji, Marui, we'll see you two later." Yukimura said as he shouldered his tennis bag. The two saw the others out the door before going to the kitchen. They sat down at the dining table and Yanagi got out a fresh notebook.

"So what do you want to know?" Marui asked, fidgeting slightly.

"Just the basic stuff for now." Yanagi said airily. "For starters, how did you feel straight after drinking the juice?"

"Well, it tasted horrible and I started to feel really nauseous. I ran to the bathroom and after I finished throwing up I started to feel really hot and really cold at the same time. I think Niou came in round then but my head started to hurt so I can't really remember and then I think I must of blacked out because I can't remember anything else up to waking up in my room." Marui recounted, grimacing slightly at the memory. God that juice was horrible…Yanagi nodded.

"Okay, and how do you feel now? Different? The same?" Yanagi asked. Marui's nose wrinkled a bit as he thought.

"I feel more or less the same but my memories from when I was younger are now much clearer and my feelings fell kinda messed up." Yanagi prompted him to expand on the last bit. Marui bit his lip. "Well, like yesterday when Niou teased me, instead of feeling annoyed like I normally would, I just felt really upset. And when we were watching _Gremlins_ I was more freaked out then when I first watched it when I was ten. Even though I knew that Niou didn't really mean what he said and that gremlins weren't really real, I still couldn't help acting the way I did."

"Hmm, interesting. Whilst we are on the subject of feelings, do you mind if I ask you how you feel about me at this moment in time?" Yanagi asked slightly nervously.

"At first I was really angry and annoyed at you but now I'm just annoyed and it's more at what's going on than at you." Marui said honestly. He cracked a small smile. "Don't worry Yanagi, I don't hate you. It's not like you meant for this to happen and I can't really be angry at someone who is trying to help me."

"Thank you, Marui. I'm very sorry about this." Yanagi apologised. Marui slipped off his seat and walked over to where the other boy was sitting. Yanagi, slightly surprised, picked Marui up on his request and was even more surprised when Marui wrapped his tiny arms round his neck.

"It's okay, Yanagi. You're completely forgiven." Marui said. Yanagi could tell that he was blushing by the heat he could feel against his neck coming from Marui's face.

"Thank you again, Marui." Yanagi said as the chibi pulled back to reveal that he did indeed have a blush. "Yagyuu was right, that clip does look quite fetching on you." The blush turned angry.

"Shut up and get on with the questions!" Marui ordered with a pout. Yanagi nodded with a small grin and carried on with questioning, Marui sitting on his lap the whole time.

* * *

"I feel kinda worried." Jackal admitted as they walked up the streets to Marui's house. It was currently just after five pm and they were all tired and hungry.

"Why?" Akaya asked, looking back from his conversation with Yukimura up at the front. Niou answered for the Brazilian.

"I think he means that since Yanagi is the reason Marui turned chibi, Marui might be angry at Yanagi and refuse to co-operate with him. Also, Yanagi has an unhealthy obsession with data so who knows what he'll do to Marui." Niou explained as he pushed open the front gate. Akaya gulped.

"Suddenly I fear for Marui-senpai's safety." Akaya said as they opened the door. The yelp coming from the kitchen did nothing to appease his fears. Akaya immediately ran to the kitchen. "Don't worry, Marui-senpai, I'll save you!"

"Yanagi, stop poking me! Oh, hey Akaya." Marui greeted as he batted Yanagi's hand away from his stomach. "What do I need saving from?"

"But Niou said…data-obsessed Yanagi…that yelp…" Akaya stammered. Marui somehow managed to get the gist of what he was saying.

"That yelp? That was because Yanagi keeps poking me in the stomach." Marui said glaring at said poker.

"I only poke because you keep getting in the way." Yanagi said calmly as he reached past the small redhead and flipped the page of the book in front of them. Akaya stepped closer and looked at the book over Yanagi's shoulder.

"Why are you guys looking at a cook book?" He asked as the rest of the team came in to get drinks.

"Because we need to eat, Akaya." Marui said slightly exasperatedly. "We've got a list of all the food in the house but the problem is finding recipes to use that food in that are also simple enough for you guys to cook."

"Are you saying that we can't cook?" Niou said as he reached in the fridge and grabbed a can of soda.

"Niou-kun, need I remind you of the 'chot' incident." Yagyuu said pointedly. Seeing his teammates confused expressions, the Gentleman chose to expand. "Niou-kun tried making cheese on toast once that came as a neon yellow, gelatinous mass that seemingly had a mind of it's own, at least until the neighbours cat ate it." Niou sighed.

"I miss that little guy…" Everybody slowly backed away from him.

"How far have you gotten?" Jackal asked.

"Not very." Yanagi admitted. "Marui's mother doesn't have that many cookbooks and the few that she does have are Weight Watchers ones and I highly doubt that any of us want to watch our weight."

"Why don't you just ask Genichirou?" Yukimura suddenly said. "He's quite a good cook and I'm sure that he could easily whip up something that's edible." Everybody looked at Sanada.

"Tarundoru." He mumbled as he tugged his cap down to cover the light blush on his cheeks. Yukimura had promised he wouldn't say anything about his cooking! Akaya leant down to Yanagi and Marui.

"I've just imagined Fukubuchou in an apron and it ain't a pretty sight." He whispered. Yanagi gave a light snort and Marui giggled quietly behind his hands. Unfortunately, Sanada's sharp ears picked them up and he glared at them.

"Tarundoru! You three, 20 laps, now!" He shouted. All three of them immediately jumped up but before they could get started Yukimura picked Marui up and blocked the kitchen door.

"Calm down, Genichirou, you can't punish them for having fun." He said calmingly, placing a soothing hand on Sanada's arm. "Now, why don't you look at Yanagi's list and decide on something to cook? Just ask us if you need any help." Sanada took a deep breath before calming down and nodding, taking the list that Yanagi handed him. The others quickly left the room, knowing that if they stuck around to watch than Sanada would probably kill them or at least slap them into next week.

They all piled into the living room, Yanagi, Akaya and Jackal taking one sofa and Yukimura, Niou and Yagyuu taking the other with Marui sitting on Yukimura's lap. Yukimura wriggled slightly in his seat as he got comfy.

"I could sit on the floor if it's comfier for you." Marui offered, thinking that Yukimura was moving because he was heavy or something of the like. Yukimura smiled and ruffled his hair gently.

"Don't worry, I'm quite comfy. Besides, your cute and I love cuddling you!"

"Gah!" Yukimura decided to demonstrate just how much he loved cuddling him and almost choked the mini tensai. Marui managed to scramble on to Niou's lap, taking the pillow that Yagyuu offered him and using it as a shield. Niou grinned as an idea formed and instead of protecting the boy like he wanted, Niou instead started tickling him. Marui yelped with laughter and hit Niou with the cushion. The action exposed his stomach to Yukimura whose hands immediately leapt in and starting attacking him. Marui dropped the cushion as his body shook with laughter, his arms only just managing weak attempts to push the tickling hands away.

"Somebody help me!" He managed to gasp out between his barks of laughter. Akaya jumped to his rescue, dragging the cushion he was sitting on with him and hitting Niou over the head with it. Marui quickly jumped off his lap and grabbed his cushion, standing behind Akaya defensively. Niou got over the shock and glared at the duo.

"That's it, brat, this means war! Care to join me, Yukimura?" Niou growled as he grabbed a cushion.

"Certainly." Yukimura agreed as he got his own cushion. "Charge!" With that command, Niou and Yukimura leapt into action and a four-way pillow war commenced. Yanagi, Jackal and Yagyuu watched with mild interest.

"Should we join in?" Jackal asked. Yanagi shrugged.

"Might as well." And with that, the four-way pillow war became a seven-way pillow war.

In the kitchen, Sanada gave a mental sigh of relief as the sounds of 'war' reached his ears. Never in his short life had he been more relieved to have been put on kitchen duty.

The pillow war lasted for a good half an hour before all participants dropped to the floor tired. The first one to move was Niou who sat up after five minutes, pulling Marui, who had been lying on his arm, up with him.

"You still wearing that clip?" Niou asked, impressed that it hadn't gotten destroyed during their battle. Marui's hand automatically rose to touch it.

"I guess. I forgot about it to be honest." Marui admitted. One by one, the rest of the war victims sat up, leaning against walls, sofas or each other.

"Marui-senpai, was it boring staying here with Yanagi-senpai?" Akaya asked randomly as Jackal leaned forward to turn on the TV. Marui looked at him.

"Well, since I've yet to see something funnier than Yanagi falling in the freezer, I'll have to say no, it was not boring." Marui decided. Akaya and Niou laughed shamelessly at the conjured image whilst Yukimura and Jackal tried to hide their laughs behind their hands. Even the Gentleman cracked a smile. Fortunately for Yanagi, he was saved any further embarrassment by Sanada coming in and announcing that it was time for dinner.

They all came to the general consensus to eat dinner in the living room. The Three Demons occupied one sofa and Yagyuu, Niou and Jackal took the other one, leaving Marui and Akaya with the floor. After dinner, Sanada and Yagyuu washed up as Yanagi phoned Inui. Everybody else took it in turns using the shower, those waiting to shower and those having showered helping set up the living room for the evening, Marui watching them from the sofa.

That night Niou was once again awoken by Marui. Though Niou had no idea what had scared Marui this time, he decided to not ask and to instead shift over so that Marui could lie next to him. The small boy slid in and clung to Niou's shirt, nuzzling into his chest as they both slowly drifted back to sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Not really sure what to put here today so I'll just leave you guys with a quote from QI: 'Flying fish always fly alone'. Okay. Bye.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince Of Tennis, would I be here writing this fic? Well, I don't so be happy!_**

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**__****_

Chapter Four

The next morning was interesting if only for the argument that occurred between Marui and Akaya. Akaya, as promised, had been allowed to pick Marui's clothes. He had picked a light pink top which Marui refused to wear, reminding his kouhai not to believe everything that Niou said**(1). **Yukimura intervened when the argument was about to escalate into a wrestling match that the second year would obviously win, instead offering Marui a light green jacket to go over the top.

Marui was going to need the jacket since Yukimura was forcing him to go outside. They were going to school tennis courts to practice and since Yanagi was going to be going as well this time, that automatically meant that Marui was being dragged along as well. Marui sat on a bench just outside the courts, not allowed in since he was only just bigger than the racket itself.

The lack of anything to do and the heat of the sun beating down on him resulted in one sleepy Marui. He struggled to keep his eyes open and yawned. He closed his eyes briefly and found himself falling forward as he fell asleep. The edge of a tennis racket stopped him from falling completely and gently pushed him back into an upright position. Marui looked up and saw Niou with his tennis racket.

"Bored?" Niou asked. Marui nodded and yawned. "I'll talk to Yukimura and see if I can take you to the park or something. You'll probably find it more interesting than sitting round here doing nothing." Marui nodded gratefully and a few minutes later they had gotten Yukimura's permission and were walking to the park.

"Thank you, Niou." Marui said as he half ran after Niou, taking two and a half steps for every one of Niou's. Fortunately there was a park reasonably close by to Rikkai so Marui didn't have to keep up the pace for long. When they got there Marui hesitated for a few seconds before heading towards the swings, glad that he could go on them without getting funny looks since he was a teenager. Niou settled himself on a nearby bench that was shaded by a tall tree, fully intending to get some shuteye in his newly acquired free time.

Niou managed to get ten, maybe fifteen, minutes before loud squeals forced him to crack open an eye. There were two girls around his age at the swings where Marui had been. Not seeing the mini tensai, Niou got up and started to make his way over.

Marui had been playing on the swings, minding his own business, when a football came careening towards him and hit him on the back of the head. Marui fell of the swing and hit the ground, banging his knees hard against the ground and grazing the palms of his hands. He slowly picked himself up.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" Marui looked up to see two girls running towards him, one stopping briefly to pick up the ball. "Are you okay?" Marui just blinked confusedly, not completely sure of what was going on.

"Ne, Orihime-chan, doesn't he look like Bunta-sama?" The one who picked up the ball asked excitedly.

"Oh, you're right, Kiyata-chan, he does look like Bunta-sama!" Her friend, Orihime, said giddily. "Ne, little boy, what's your name? Are you related to Bunta-sama?"

'_Crap, fangirls!' _Marui thought with a gulp. _'I can't give them my real name, Damnit! Gotta think of a name! Marui…Marui…'_ "Marui A-aito…" He managed to stammer out. The two girls squealed and Marui gulped again as he tried to back away from them.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked and Marui could practically cry with relief as he recognised it to be Niou's. The fangirls squealed even more.

"Masaharu-sama, such a surprise seeing you here!" They gushed in unison. Niou and Marui both felt shivers go up their spines at the freakiness.

"I don't remember giving you permission to call me by first name." Niou said coolly as he picked Marui. Marui immediately hid his face in Niou's shoulder in an attempt to shield himself from the fangirls. The action caused the females to squeal again and Niou grimaced at the noise. "Could someone please answer my question?" The girls blushed.

"Well, Kiyata-chan and I were practicing shooting and I kinda slipped and the ball hit Aito-kun." Kiyata held up the black and white ball as Orihime explained. Niou looked down and frowned when he saw Marui's blood flecked hands.

"We need to get going." Niou said shortly before quickly walking away. Kiyata and Orihime looked at each before squealing loudly and jumping up and down happily.

Niou waited until they were several streets away from the crazy girls before slowing down to a normal walking pace. He looked down at Marui whose face was still hidden in shoulder.

"You okay, 'Aito-kun'?" He teased. Marui gave his shoulder a small shove.

"Shut up. I couldn't tell them my real name, now could I?" Marui said as he moved his head. There were slight tears in his eyes. Before Niou could start apologising, Marui cut him off. "Not your fault. My head, hands and knees just hurt, that's all." Niou shifted Marui in his arms slightly and rubbed his head gently, wincing when he found a small bump.

"Let's go home and give you a bath. That'll make you feel better." Niou said as he changed direction. Marui flushed and looked at Niou.

"B-b-b-b-but Niou! It's embarrassing enough getting changed in front of you!" He squeaked.

"I know it is but don't worry. I'll make sure that there are plenty of bubbles." Niou said.

"That's not the point!" The two argued about what the point was until they got to Marui's house. Marui huffed as Niou carried him upstairs. He had lost the argument. It wasn't that he didn't want to take a bath, he just felt awkward having Niou bathe him, a fact that Niou didn't seem to get.

Niou set him down once they got in the bathroom and ordered Marui to undress as he ran the bath. Marui reluctantly began to pull off his T-shirt. Niou was just turning round to grab the bubble bath, as promised, when Marui pulled his jeans down. Niou hissed in sympathy as he saw the other boy's knees, both of which were bleeding sluggishly. He grabbed some toilet paper and dabbed gently at the cuts.

"I'll bandage them properly when you've had your bath." He promised as he ruffled the boy's hair and turned back to the bath. Less than five minutes later Marui was in the bath and Niou was shampooing his hair.

"I can wash my own hair." Marui mumbled as he turned over the rubber duck that he didn't even know his family had in his hands. Niou just hmm'ed, too busy focusing on not getting shampoo in Marui's eyes to give any real response. Marui persisted. "It's true. I was washing my own hair when I was six. It can't be that much harder at five."

"You'd be surprised, puri." Niou said mildly before pouring a jug of cold water over Marui, his sadistic side laughing in amusement as he watched the other boy splutter. Marui glared at him but said nothing as Niou continued to wash his hair. Niou washed the last of the conditioner out before giving Marui the soap to wash himself with before going off to find a towel, something he should've done at the start, and some bandages. He took a corner of the white, fluffy blanket in each hand, rolling and closing his eyes when Marui ordered him to, and picked him up and wrapped the towel round him at the same time. He set Marui down on the closed toilet seat before reaching for the bath plug with one hand and grabbing another towel with the other.

"I like fluffy towels." Marui said suddenly and quietly, pulling said towel closer to him. Niou looked at him before using the other towel to dry his hair.

"I'm not really bothered personally. A towel is a towel." Niou said as he gently dried the red locks. "What brought that on anyway? You're weird but you don't usually just blurt out random stuff."

"I'm a brat, aren't I?" Marui said depressively. "You guys are trying to help me but I keep acting like a brat. I can't even let Akaya choose my clothes." Niou finished drying his hair and started bandaging his knees.

"Nah, I would've had a fit too if the bratling tried to get me in a pink shirt." Niou said. "You have acted a tiny bit like a brat but so far it's been either justified or so small that Akaya seems like a bigger brat. Again, what brought this on?" Niou finished bandaging his knees and moved on to Marui's hands.

"Just thinking."

"Well you're thinking too much then if you think you're a bigger brat than the demon brat himself." Niou said as he handed Marui the spare change of clothes he had gotten, turning round to give Marui some privacy. "Anyway, I noticed that you've got _Just Dance_. My sister played it at her friend's house and said that it was really good. Wanna play?" Marui agreed and when the others got home they were very surprised to see Niou dancing to _Girls Just Wanna Have Fun_ and losing very badly to one ecstatic chibi.

* * *

**A/N: (1) **In Chapter Two Niou called Marui a girl. Marui is reminding Akaya of this fact since the colour pink is usually associated with girls.

Hmm, what to say here other than I hoped you enjoyed this chapter? Well, the next chapter will be out in a couple of days so keep your schedule free! Until then!


	5. Chapter 5

For fear of my head, I am posting this chapter a day earlier than usual. I hope you like it. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis. I do, however, own a lot of teddy bears.

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_**Chapter Five**_

The next day it was rainy. Not sad rainy, like the other day, but stormy rain. As a result, they all decided to do their homework, even Marui. The boy was hampered by the fact that the pencil was too big for him so he was writing the answers down on some scrap paper to write up later. It would be annoying having to do it all over again but it would be less annoying than getting the teachers on his back about his handwriting. Yanagi and Yukimura were the first to finish, followed by Sanada, Yagyuu, Jackal and Niou twenty minutes later. That just left Akaya and Marui.

"Ugh, writers cramp." Akaya groaned as he dropped his pencil and waved his hand about. "Why do we have to do this? Can't we do something fun instead?" Marui just rolled his eyes and adjusted his grip on his pencil, ignoring the pain in his own hand which still had the bandage on. Honestly, he was a chibi with an injured hand and he wasn't complaining about doing his homework! Or at least that was until his own hand succumbed to the pain.

"Hate to admit it but I have to agree with Akaya on this one. Can't we do something more interesting than trigonometry?" He asked as he set his pencil down. Between him and Akaya, they only had Maths and English left. Not bad for a morning's work. Jackal looked uncertainly at the games next to the TV.

"We could play _Just Dance_." He suggested. Niou immediately protested.

"NO! Never again! Burn the goddamn game!" He shouted. Apparently he hadn't taken his repeated losses well yesterday.

"Yanagi-senpai, since Marui-senpai is a kid, does that mean he'll like teddy bears?" Akaya suddenly asked looking thoughtful.

"Possibly but it would depend on if Marui liked teddy bears when he was younger." Yanagi answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Marui-senpai keeps having nightmares so I just thought that maybe it was 'cause he slept with a teddy bear when he was younger and now he doesn't have one." Akaya explained, his thoughtful expression still on his face.

"That is surprisingly intuitive of you, Akaya." Yukimura smiled as he reached over and ruffled the second year's hair. Marui mumbled something about not having nightmares but Niou shut him up with a poke to the stomach. "Marui, did you a teddy bear when you were a child?"

"I used to but I think it's up in the attic now." Marui said, wrinkling his nose in thought.

"Then instead of doing boring homework, why don't we go on an adventure to look for Marui-senpai's teddy bear?" Akaya suggested excitedly. Marui snorted.

"Good luck then. There's hardly any breathing space up there, let alone moving space." He said.

"That just makes the adventure even more exciting!" Akaya insisted, sparkles in his eyes. And that was how they all came to be gathered under the Marui's attic, somehow coercing Yagyuu into going up first to put the light on.

"What's it like up there, Yagyuu?" Niou called up to his partner. There was a sneeze and Yagyuu poked his head back down.

"Rather dusty and packed. We'll have to bring some boxes down if we want any room to move." He reported. Yukimura nodded and told him to start bringing stuff down. Yagyuu nodded before his head disappeared again only for his legs to appear half a minute later as he came down with a cardboard box. The box contained various gardening tools.

"I think those used to be Grandpa's." Marui commented as Jackal ascended the ladder next. They spent the next hour and a half ascending and descending the ladder, boxes littering the landing, Yukimura, Akaya and Marui going through the boxes and sorting them out. Marui's parents were going to be in for a pleasant surprise when they got back! Niou had just carried down a box of old books when Sanada called down that there was enough room for all of them to come up. They all quickly climbed up into attic.

"So where is this bear?" Niou asked as he looked round the still slightly full attic.

"Um, probably somewhere just before the back." Marui guessed.

"Let's make our way to the back and work back from there." Yukimura suggested. Despite the short the distance they had to cover, it took them a long time to progress since they had to move boxes out of the way. Sanada, Yagyuu and Yanagi all hung back, opting to continue sorting the boxes so that the rest of the team had more room to move. They were just reaching the back of the attic when the storm decided to make itself known. There was a loud clash of thunder that made several of the regulars jump. Akaya bumped into Jackal, Jackal bumped into a precariously balanced tower of boxes and the precariously balanced tower of boxes tipped over. Marui was standing next to the tower as it fell and he froze as it came towards him, only able to close his eyes and move his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself.

There was a loud crash and a large cloud of dust rose up. Yukimura, Akaya and Jackal all waited nervously for the dust to clear and all breathed a sigh of relief when it did. Niou had managed to pull Marui out of the way and the duo was sitting in front of the pile of boxes, Marui's face hidden in Niou's chest. Marui pulled back, mumbling a small 'thanks'. Niou nodded as he patted the dust out of Marui's hair. As Yukimura and Jackal moved to help the pair, something caught Akaya's eye. He let out a small cry of triumph.

"Marui-senpai, look what I found!" Akaya said happily as he held up a slightly battered brown bear. Marui looked up at Akaya and his eyes filled with childish glee.

"Kuma-chan!" He cried out happily as Akaya handed him the bear, hugging the teddy tightly. The others gave sighs of happy relief. Niou stood up with some help from Jackal, holding Marui in his arms as he made his way to the attic hatch, briefly explaining what had happened to a worried Sanada, Yanagi and Yagyuu. He carefully made his way down the ladder and into the kitchen where he managed to persuade Marui to let go of the teddy bear so that he could wash it. Niou was just figuring out what setting to put the washing machine on when the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Marui said as he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. "Hello?…Oh, hi Taichi, hi Daichi! Just a sec, lemme put you on speakerphone."

"_Hi Bunta-nii!"_ Two voices piped up over the phone. _"How you doing all by yourself?"_

"I'm fine. What about you two? Having fun at camp?" Marui asked with a smile on his face.

"_We're fine and we're having loads of fun."_ One of the twins responded. _"Are you sure you're okay, Bunta-nii? You're voice sounds funny."_ Marui froze; ever since he'd gone chibi, his voice had gotten higher. Niou quickly whispered him an excuse.

"Don't worry, Taichi, I've just got a cold. My nose is just a bit blocked up." He said quickly and brightly.

"_Aww, poor Bunta-nii!"_ The other twin, Daichi, sympathised. _"So, besides being stuck inside with a cold, what have you been up to?"_

"Well, you'll never believe this but I found Kuma-chan!"

"_Really?"_ Niou watched as the Marui siblings talked, smiling crookedly as he watched his friend laugh. This was probably the happiest that Marui had been in days. The call lasted well after the others came downstairs. As the siblings said goodbye to each other, Niou couldn't help but note the change in attitudes. Before, when they found Kuma-chan, the boy had been positively hyper but now it had subsided to a softer, more docile, maybe even sad, kind of happiness.

That night Marui offered the sofa to Akaya, who had been complaining about how hard the floor was, and crawled in next to Niou. The Trickster raised an eyebrow.

"Finding that bear was supposed to keep you in bed, not get you out of bed sooner." He commented though he made no move to shove Marui and Kuma-chan out of the makeshift bed.

"Finding Kuma-chan and talking to the twins brought up a lot of memories and I just felt kinda nostalgic. After the twins were born, I used to sneak into their bedroom with Kuma-chan and watch them sleeping." Marui said as he curled up. Marui yawned and closed his eyes, murmuring one last pearl of wisdom before he fell asleep. "Being a big brother is great." Niou couldn't help but agree.

* * *

**A/N:** As mentioned before, I have no idea as to what the siblings' names are so I am just going with whatever sounds good. Besides, Daichi and Taichi sounds twin-y, if that makes any sense.

Well, that's Chapter Five over and done with and I'll see you guys on Tueday! Bai bai!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince Of Tennis then I wouldn't need to go to college and I could spend all day chatting to my friend about manga. Sigh..._**

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Chapter Six

"We need to go food shopping." Yanagi announced on Tuesday morning. The rest of the team looked up from their breakfast. "I just did a quick stock count and we are starting to run low on food, especially bread and milk." Yukimura swallowed.

"We'll make a list and go shopping then." Yukimura said. "We'll do it after breakfast." Everybody nodded as they continued eating their bacon. Breakfast was quickly eaten and cleared away. Yukimura grabbed a piece of paper and pen and sat down at the dining table with the rest of his team. "So what do we need?"

"Bread, milk, coffee, vegetables…" Yanagi started.

"Chocolate!" Akaya quickly added. Yanagi shook his head.

"Actually, sweets are the one thing we're not starting to get low on." He stated. "Surprisingly, Marui's sweet consumption has gone down by 88%." Everybody's eyes widened and looked at Marui.

"I didn't start eating loads of sweets until I was about eleven." He offered, avoiding their gazes as he looked down at Kuma-chan. Did they have to stare like that? "What else do we need?" The question proved a sufficient deterrent for their gazes as they all went back to making the list. After many, many minutes of adding, crossing out and falling into freezers, they finally had a list.

"Okay, who's going shopping?" Yukimura asked.

"I cannot go. I promised Sadaharu that I would meet up with him so we can discuss Marui's cure." Yanagi said. "Marui will also need to come with me."

"I think somebody else should go with them to make sure they don't do anything weird to Marui-senpai." Akaya said adamantly, Jackal nodding slightly behind him. Yukimura smiled at the second year.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Niou won't mind going with them." He said looking at Niou. Niou just shrugged. "Well, since those three can't go, why don't the rest of us go together?" They all nodded.

"The nearest supermarket is about forty-five minutes away by bus." Marui informed them. "Yanagi, what time does your friend want to see us?"

"At three thirty." Yanagi said. Yukimura nodded.

"It's just before half past eleven now so we'll go as soon as everybody has changed." Yukimura said. "Wear comfy clothes because it'll probably take us 3-4 hours to do all the shopping." Everybody nodded as they started to move to get their clothes for the day.

"Sorry about make you guys doing this." Marui said apologetically. Niou ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about it. We were the ones who offered so take advantage of it. Besides we wouldn't be very good friends if we left you to handle this by yourself." He said as he picked Marui up. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice that you've become a lot more docile about us picking you up and ruffling your hair." Marui shrugged his shoulders.

"You get used to after a while." He said. Several minutes later the shopping group left. Niou closed the door and Marui looked at him. "What should we do until we leave to meet Yanagi's friend? Play _Just Dance_?"

"NO!"

_**4:04pm**_

Niou looked round irritably as he rubbed his throat. He hadn't had a drink since lunch and now he was dying for one. Unfortunately, Yanagi had gone of with his Seigaku friend to buy ingredients and had left Niou all by himself to watch Marui. Said mini tensai was currently putting on a very convincing act as he played with some other five-year-olds.

Niou coughed and rubbed his throat again. Damn, he needed a drink! He was pretty sure that there was a vending machine less than five minutes and after casting one last look at Marui, who seemed to be chatting animatedly with his new friends, Niou ran off to find.

Little did Niou know, Marui's lively talk had actually been him waving goodbye to the other kids. He turned round to find Niou, only to see the other gone. Marui went over to the bench he was sure where Niou had been, biting his lip as he looked around for the Trickster. Trying to keep a lid on his bubbling panic, Marui sat down on the bench to wait for Niou, curling himself up into a small ball as it began to rain.

Niou cursed under his breath as he ran through puddles, his old trainers letting the water in. It had taken him fifteen minutes to find the moved vending machine and when he finally got there, not only was it raining heavily but the thing was out of order! Niou ran through the park in the direction that he hoped he had come from.

As Niou reached where he had been before, he saw Marui huddled up on the bench. Marui looked up at the sound of footsteps and immediately launched himself into Niou's legs when he saw that it was him. Niou shrugged his jacket off as he picked up the shivering child, carefully wrapping the warmish article around him.

"T-thank God." Marui hiccoughed, sobbing uncontrollably. "Thank God. I thought you'd left me behind. I thought you'd forgotten me like Okaa-san and Otou-san did. Thank God." Niou pulled Marui closer to him.

"Don't worry, Marui, I won't forget you." Niou murmured reassuringly, pulling the hood over Marui's head to shield him from the rain. Niou quickly looked round, hoping that Yanagi would suddenly appear.

'_Screw Yanagi.'_ Niou thought darkly as another hiccough sounded from Marui. Securing his hold on the redhead, Niou quickly started for home.

* * *

Half an hour earlier, the shopping group came in laden with carrier bags. Akaya quickly excused himself from unpacking, saying that his hands hurt too much from the plastic cutting into his hands.

Akaya lounged lazily in the living room, bored out of his mind. He could help with unpacking the shopping but he hadn't been lying when he said that his hands hurt. He looked boredly around the room, his eyes locking on a small set of shelves next to the TV. He crawled over to it and pulled off a thick leather album.

Yukimura, Sanada, Yagyuu and Jackal looked up at the sound of their kouhai's exclamations. They all looked into the living room to see Akaya gushing over a photo album.

"What you looking at, Akaya?" Yukimura asked as he knelt down next to the boy.

"Marui-senpai. He was so cute as a baby!" Akaya said happily. The present third years looked down at the photo. It showed a baby Marui, only a few hours old, with his mother, who was holding him, and his father, who had his arm wrapped round his wife's shoulders. The baby Marui had a tiny hand wrapped round one of his father's fingers and small tufts of red hair were already visible.

The others settled down to look as Akaya started to flip through the album. It started off pretty normally, showing pictures of birthdays and trips to the park. After Marui's fourth birthday, the amount of pictures started to decline but the small audience put it down to the fact that his mother was pregnant again, thus creating less opportunities to take photos. They were very surprised, however, when all pictures of the resident tensai stopped the moment the twins were born. After that moment all the photos showed the twins' birthdays, the twins' first day of school, the twins' sport day, everything was about the twins. This carried on for several years until Marui suddenly showed up once again. An eleven-year-old Marui was looking awkwardly at the camera with a twin hanging of each arm. After this photo, Marui started to show up again though only very rarely and always with at least one of the twins. Akaya shut the album after the most recent photo, a picture showing Marui cooking with the twins, his previous smile wiped from his face. He put the album back on the shelf and leant against Yukimura.

"'Mura-buchou, do you think Marui-senpai was forgotten a lot as a child?" Akaya asked quietly.

"It's possible." Yukimura answered softly, one arm sliding round the other boy and pulling him into a gentle hug.

"It explains why Marui hates being ignored." Jackal commented as he stood up. "Come on, those groceries aren't going to unpack themselves unfortunately." Sanada and Yagyuu nodded and followed the Brazilian to the kitchen, leaving Yukimura and Akaya sitting on the living room floor.

"I feel sorry for Marui-senpai." Akaya murmured. "Your family are supposed to protect you and always be there for you but his family forgot him. Poor Marui-senpai."

"If that's the case than we'll be his family." Yukimura suggested. Akaya nodded, his eyes lighting up slightly. Yukimura smiled gently and helped him up. They were both going to the kitchen when there was a loud, persistent banging on the door. Akaya opened it and was nearly bowled over as Niou ran inside, the door slamming behind him.

"Niou!" Yukimura exclaimed as the Trickster sank to the floor. Niou ignored him and instead pulled the hood off the bundle he was carrying to reveal Marui. If Niou looked cold then Marui looked frozen. His skin was pale and his lips were an unsettling shade of blue. Akaya gently pulled Marui off of Niou, the older boy making no complaint, and discarded the soaked jacket in favour of one of the towels that Yagyuu had brought upon seeing the situation.

Niou shook off Yukimura and Sanada off, stubbornly standing up by himself.

"I'm fine. Marui…Marui…" He tried to get further but his chattering teeth prevented him. Yukimura looked at Marui who Akaya was pulling closer to his body in an attempt to warm the chibi up. Marui's lips weren't as blue anymore but he was still deathly pale and his lips were purple with cold. He looked at Sanada who got the message and supported Niou, whose legs were shaking too much to support him, and wrapped his arms round the duo.

"C'mon, Marui, wake up." He said softly, moving a few wet strands of red hair off Marui's forehead. Marui stirred a little, half opening blurry eyes.

"Okaa-san…" He whimpered, shaking as the cold set in and tears gathered in his eyes. "I want Okaa-san!"

Akaya sent the team a panicked look as he bounced Marui up and down in an attempt to calm him down. Niou shrugged Sanada off again and grabbed Kuma-chan from Jackal before stumbling over to Marui.

"Here you go Bunta." Niou said in his best female voice as he handed the bear to Marui. Marui took the bear and held it as tightly as he could, burying his face in Akaya's chest as he shivered, sobbing softly, Niou gently stroking his hair. "It's okay Bunta…" Niou whispered as Marui sobbed himself to sleep. Niou softly kissed the top of his head before his eyes closed and he fell forward.

"Niou!"

* * *

**A/N:** Please don't hurt me! I don't like making Marui sick and making Niou sick as well just about killed me! I'm sorry that this chapter isn't quite as cute and fluffy as the other ones but it does lead up to something better, honest! Please don't hurt me!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** The masterpiece that is The Prince Of Tennis firmly belongs to genius of Konomi Takeshi._**

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Chapter Seven

That Wednesday morning saw a slightly emptier living room than usual. Yanagi had called up the day before to say that he was staying that night at Inui's to run a few experiments and Niou and Marui were both in Marui's room. After passing out yesterday, Niou had woken up with a slight temperature though nowhere near Marui's. The rest of the team had forced him upstairs into Marui's room where it was slightly warmer. Marui had his own bed whilst the comfiest futon was dragged upstairs for Niou who also got the extra blankets.

Niou scrunched up his face and reluctantly opened his eyes. He sat up and put a hand to his forehead. It might not have been the best way to check his temperature but he did feel normal again. At least he looked better than Marui. Niou sympathetically stroked the top of Marui's head. The boy's forehead was sweaty and he was panting heavily, his cheeks coloured a deep pink that almost matched his hair.

"Good to see you awake." Niou looked up and saw Yagyuu entering the room. He turned his gaze back to Marui.

"Hey Yagyuu." He greeted quietly, one hand resting against Marui's uncomfortably warm cheeks. Niou jumped slightly when a hand placed itself against his forehead but relaxed when he realised that it was just his doubles partner. Yagyuu hmm'ed a little before retracting his hand.

"Your temperature is back to normal." He confirmed as he handed Niou a bowl of porridge. He accepted it wordlessly and began to eat mechanically. "It's not your fault, you know."

"But it is. Even if it was only to get a drink, I shouldn't have left him. I haven't seen him that scared since Yukimura collapsed." Niou sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "Also, some of the things he said when I got back confused me." Yagyuu raised an eyebrow.

"What things?" He asked. Niou gave him a quick run down of what was said. Yagyuu nodded slowly. "Well, I'm not completely sure how to say this but we looked at Marui-kun's family album and, if the photos were anything to go by, his parents ignored him from just before he turned five to when he was about eleven and that even now they don't pay him that much attention." Niou's eyes widened a little bit and he looked even guiltier. "Don't worry about it, Niou-kun. Do you want to come downstairs to finish breakfast or would you prefer to stay up here?"

"I'll stay here." Niou said as he sat down at the end of Marui's bed. Yagyuu nodded and left the room. Niou looked down at the lumpy oatmeal and suddenly didn't feel very hungry. He set it down on Marui's bedside table and looked out of the window. The storm from yesterday was still going on, random flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder filled the sky. Niou looked aimlessly outside before some wriggling from Marui broke him out of his trance. He looked at Marui who was writhing in his bed, whimpering every time the thunder crashed. Niou lay down next to Marui and drew him into his arms, murmuring soft nonsenses into his ear. Marui still shivered but he calmed down. Niou felt his eyes growing heavy as he listened to Marui's soft, slightly unsteady breathing and he reluctantly let them close.

He was woken up several hours later by Akaya. He opened his eyes and glared up at the boy shaking him awake. He sat up, working out the stiffness in his neck and shivering slightly at the cool air. Akaya handed him a blanket. Niou accepted it and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"If you keep sleeping now then you won't be able to sleep tonight." Akaya said as he sat down on the edge of the bed and handed him a sandwich. Niou took it and tucked in hungrily. "That's what you get for skipping breakfast."

"Shut up, brat." Niou said though it didn't contain any real bite. He took another bite of the sandwich and swallowed, looking at Marui. "How has he been doing?"

"I'm not completely sure but Jackal-senpai said that his fever has gone down. Also, Yanagi-senpai phoned and said he would be staying at his friend's house until a cure is made." Akaya informed him. "Poor Marui-senpai. Niou-senpai, you knew him when he was younger, right?" Niou nodded.

"Yeah, why?" He asked.

"Do you have any photos of that time? I was feeling sorry for Marui-senpai and 'Mura-buchou suggested making him a photo album with the pictures of him with us." Akaya explained, looking a little sad. "I still can't believe that his parents ignored him so much." Niou sighed and leant back against the wall.

"I couldn't either but the more I think about, the more I remember his parents ignoring him." Niou said. "I always put it down to them making sure the twins didn't get in the way or something when guests were there but when I think about it more carefully, even when Marui was misbehaving and playing tricks with me his parents ignored him."

"You were younger then, though. You were less observant then." Akaya reasoned. Niou nodded. "What was Marui-senpai like when he was younger?"

"Really shy." Niou smirked slightly at Akaya's obvious surprise.

"Eh? Marui-senpai? Shy?" Akaya questioned disbelievingly. Niou nodded.

"He was also a wimp. Even though when we were younger he was taller than me and even though he was the oldest in the class, he was the one that always who got bullied and I was always the one who protected him. He was a right crybaby." Niou grinned to himself as the memories came back. "He was also really easily pleased. I remember when we were nine and he was playing his first real tennis match against me. He lost 6-2 but he was still ecstatic about the fact that he had won one game, let alone two. He smiled for about a week afterwards."

"That doesn't sound like Marui-senpai." Akaya said amazed.

"Yeah, I know." Niou said. "He changed when we entered middle school though. He suddenly had a lot more confidence and didn't need me to look after him so much. Since I had more free time, I started to play pranks and since I knew what annoyed Marui, most of the tricks I played were on him and the love/hate relationship that you know us to now have was born."

"When you entered in middle school? That's right after Marui-senpai's started to pay him some attention again, if the photos are anything to go by." Akaya realised. "Definitely not a coincidence." Niou nodded as he placed the plate on the table next to his uneaten porridge.

"Seems like all those scientific studies were right about something." Niou said as he brushed the crumbs off his shirt. "Anyway, you said something about wanting photos? I've got some under my bed. I can get them for you later if you want me to or you could ask my brother to brave going into my room. Just tell him to get my photo box and pick what you want. There aren't any embarrassing photos and I know what's there so don't think of nicking any for blackmail." Akaya nodded.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He said dryly. "By the way, why did you call Marui-senpai by his first name yesterday? Did you call him that when you were younger?"

"Nosy brat. I called him 'Bunta' yesterday to calm him down. He wanted his mum and it would be weird if his mum didn't call him by his first name." Niou explained. "I did call him Bunta when we were younger but we stopped calling each other by our first names when we entered middle school, though he still sometimes calls me 'Haru, though not recently." Akaya nodded as he gathered the crockery gathered on the bedside table and opened the door.

"I'll go and get those photos now. See you later." Akaya made to leave before doubling back for a moment. "And Niou-senpai? I think you should start calling Marui-senpai 'Bunta' again. You two are good friends and it seems sad to make people think otherwise." Niou nodded absent-mindedly and Akaya left.

Niou sighed as he let the blanket drop from his shoulders and pool round his waist. He wouldn't mind calling Marui by his first name again but he felt bad for not noticing the signs sooner. He was supposed to be Marui's best friend but he had still no idea. But, Niou thought, the saddest thing was probably the fact that some part of Marui still believed his parents wanted him and that Marui still wanted his parents. That much had been made clear by Marui's feverish talk. Despite what his teammates thought, neither Niou nor Marui had slept straight through the day. Marui had woken up several times whimpering for his parents, too delirious to notice that it was Niou holding him and comforting him. Niou would've given up on his parents a long time ago if they had acted anything like Marui's had.

Niou snapped out of his trance-like state as Marui started to writhe and mumble, whimpering slightly. Niou moved a little closer to comfort him and was surprised to hear his name being said.

"Marui…" He whispered, gently picking Marui up. This proved a bad move as the sudden movement made Marui gasp and the sudden rush of air irritated his sore throat and sent him into a coughing fit. Niou rubbed his back and reached for a glass of water, his expression slightly panicky. He guided the water to Marui's lips who gratefully gulped it down, his coughing starting to subside.

"Thank you, Niou…" Marui rasped out. Niou nodded, the hand on Marui's back moving to his forehead as Niou checked his temperature.

"You're welcome." He said distractedly. "Well, it seems your temperature has gone down a bit but you've still got one. You're certainly not delirious anymore though." Marui weakly pushed the hand away and looked up at Niou.

"Have you been looking after me all day?" He said, his voice sounding terribly scratchy and hurting too the point where Marui winced.

"If you're throat hurts then don't talk." Niou reprimanded him lightly, ignoring the question. "I'll go and ask the others if they know where the medicine is. They'll probably want to know that you're awake." Niou got up to leave but was stopped by a small hand grabbing his clothes. Niou looked at Marui.

"Please stay." He pleaded. Niou knew the others would want to know that Marui was awake but he relented. Niou climbed under the duvet with Marui and pulled the boy onto his lap. Marui snuggled into his chest. "Thank you."

"Don't. Just don't. I don't deserve it. I should've taken better care of you. I should've noticed sooner." Niou said as he hid his face in Marui's hair. Marui was slightly confused but tried to comfort him anyway.

"You do. You brought me home and stayed with me. You deserve it, 'Haru." Marui insisted, taking one of Niou's larger hands and holding it close. Niou smiled, pulling the tensai closer as he closed his eyes.

"Thank you."

* * *

**A/N:** Told ya that the fluff would come back, puri. Though it isn't as fluffy as the other chapters unfortunately, puri. Sorry. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're having a good week so far, puri! See you on Saturday, puri! Bai bai!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince Of Tennis, HaruMaru would be_ so_ canon._**

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Chapter Eight

"You are so heartless!" This was the shout that Marui and Niou came down to the next morning. Sanada was standing at the door with his bag in hand, looking slightly apologetic. Akaya was yelling at him. "You can't just leave! Do you want Marui-senpai to feel unwanted?"

"I am sorry but my older brother has fallen ill and my grandfather needs help running the dojo." Sanada said in a tone of voice that suggested he had repeated this phrase many times. Akaya opened his mouth to protest again.

"It's okay." Everybody turned round to see Niou and Marui standing on the stairs. Marui continued. "If Fukubuchou's family needs him then he can go. Besides, why would it make me feel unwanted?" Akaya flushed.

"Well, a couple of days ago we were looking at your photo album and we kinda guessed a few things about your childhood." He mumbled. Marui's eyes widened a little and a flash of past hurt flashed through his eyes but he looked away to the side.

"It's still okay. Fukubuchou needs to see his family and he isn't going to make me feel 'unwanted' by doing so." Marui said indifferently. "I'll see you next week at tennis practice, Fukubuchou, hopefully."

"Thank you, Marui." Sanada bowed and opened the front door. "I'll see everybody on Monday." The rest of the team all said their goodbyes and the door closed.

"How are you feeling, Marui?" Yukimura asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence as he walked towards the stairs and picked the boy up. He placed a hand to his forehead, pursing his lips a little. "Hmm, you've still got a slight temperature but I guess it would be a bit too miraculous for you to completely recover from that fever in just one day." Marui nodded, a small sad frown on his lips. Akaya moved forward nervously.

"Marui-senpai, do you want some breakfast? Jackal-senpai said that he knew how to make pancakes…" Akaya offered. Marui nodded again but he kept his gaze trained on Yukimura's shoulder. "Marui-senpai, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to look at the album! Well, I did but I didn't know what I was going to see! I'm really sorry for hurting your feelings!" Akaya bowed deeply as he apologised, close to getting down on his knees.

"It's not your fault." Marui whispered, closing his eyes and letting his head fall one Yukimura's shoulder. His body shook slightly as small tears rolled down his cheeks. "It's not your fault." Akaya looked up, stricken at the fact that he'd made his senpai cry. The team quickly gathered around him, trying to calm him down but it just made Marui cry harder.

"Cheer up, Marui, we don't like seeing you sad." Jackal tried desperately, one hand gently trying to wipe away all tears. Marui gulped in deep breaths, trying his best to calm himself.

"I'm s-sorry. I-it's just that y-you guys weren't s-supposed to find out. S-shock." Marui shakily stuttered out before more tears leaked out. Niou took Marui from Yukimura and gently stroked Marui's hair as the boy cried.

"Don't apologise, Marui. Just cry all you want." Niou said softly as Marui his face in Niou's shoulder and wept. After about ten minutes, Marui calmed down enough to talk. Niou pulled him away from his shoulder and looked at him. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah…" Marui said shakily, giving a small nod. Nobody was completely convinced by the answer but they didn't comment as they moved into the living room and sat down, Niou with Marui on his lap who was still clinging to Niou's shirt. All was silent until a low growling filled the room. Akaya flushed.

"Sorry. I'm hungry." He mumbled. Jackal was about to berate him but the snort from Marui stopped him and instead he just rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen to start on breakfast. "Ah, Jackal-senpai, don't forget the maple syrup!"

"Over my dead body are you having maple syrup, brat. I do not want to have to deal with you on a sugar high." Niou growled out, trying to reach out and hit Akaya without dislodging Marui. Akaya dodged with practiced ease and ran to Yukimura's side.

"'Mura-buchou, Niou-senpai's being mean!" He whined as he tried to pull Yagyuu in front of him as a shield. Niou sneered.

"Honestly, brat, the way you always run to Yukimura anybody would think that he was your mother." Niou said unthinkingly before freezing and looking down at Marui. Marui smiled sadly and shook his head.

"This is why I didn't want you guys to find out. I knew you would act like this." Marui sighed. "I don't mind you guys mentioning your parents or stuff like that. Really. I only get sad when I remember my parents ignoring me but I usually recover pretty quickly since you guys have the uncanny habit of annoying me less than two seconds later."

"Good to know my pranks did something other than bring me great pleasure." Niou mumbled. Marui nodded slightly, a real smile playing on his lips. Akaya looked out from behind Yagyuu and quickly but cautiously ran over to Niou and Marui and sat next to them.

"Marui-senpai?" He said warily. Marui looked at him in acknowledgement. "Well, I feel kinda bad for making you cry so can I hug you better? Also, you've sat on everybody's lap except mine."

"You know, when comforting somebody, it's best not to reveal your ulterior motive." Marui pointed out as he crawled on to Akaya's lap. "And for the record, I have yet to sit on Jackal's lap." Akaya ignored the last part as he hugged the chibi tensai. When Jackal entered the room again to announce breakfast, everybody looked at him very sympathetically, leading the boy to become very confused. Poor Jackal.

* * *

It was a quiet afternoon. Akaya had gone of somewhere, saying that he needed to pick something up; Yukimura was looking at some papers about the club; and Jackal and Yagyuu were discussing the pros and cons of Ritalin. That left the bathroom free for Niou and Marui.

Niou sighed as he sank into the warm water, sitting behind Marui. He now understood why Marui had been so embarrassed. Thank God his mother had packed his swimming trunks for some unknown reason. Niou pulled Marui closer to him and began to wash both of their hair. Marui leant back as Niou massaged the shampoo into his red locks.

"You look like a cat smiling like that." Niou commented. Marui stuck out his tongue childishly before quickly pulling it back in as Niou poured water over his head.

Marui leant back against Niou's chest after his hair had been washed, the two of them lying lazily in the warm water. His new position meant that he could easily look up and see Niou's face. Niou's chin rested against his chest and his eyes were closed. Marui frowned as he felt Niou slip slightly and he sharply elbowed the Trickster. Niou's eyes snapped open.

"Don't fall asleep and drown." Marui warned. "If you do then I'll have nobody to play tricks with." Niou grumbled but sat a little straighter.

"Thanks." Niou said begrudgingly. Marui looked at him, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Niou? To show your gratitude, do you mind answering a couple of questions?" Niou nodded curiously. "Do you think I'm a bad brother?"

"Eh?"

"Well, I was just thinking-" Niou cut in.

"I may have told you this before but you think too much." Marui gave him a small shove.

"Shut up and let me finish! As I was saying, I was thinking how you guys were acting like protective big brothers and then I thought that I was a really bad big brother."

"Why?" Niou asked perplexedly.

"You know how I told you that after the twins were born I used to sneak into their room and watch them? When I watched them, I was always thinking about how they had replaced me and how Okaa-san and Otou-san would still love me if they weren't there. I stopped thinking it when I got older and realised it was because they were young and that what my parents did wasn't the twins fault but then the twins started being really nice to me and treating me to stuff and giving me the attention that I missed and I started to feel really guilty." Marui smiled bittersweetly. "It was thanks to the twins that I started eating sweets, ya know."

"Really?" Niou hmm'ed. "Well, in my opinion, if you think you are something then you usually aren't, meaning that you are a great brother. Besides, even if I didn't think that, I would still say it. Not many people can forgive others for taking something precious but you did. And you say that the twins helped you but you protect them just as much. You constantly take them out for treats, help them with their homework and beat up anyone who so much as looks at them the wrong way. A lot more than what I do for my brother. You're a great brother." Niou reinforced the idea to make certain that it got through Marui's head. Said head nodded slowly.

"Thanks." He whispered as turned round and stood up on his tiptoes. Marui shyly pecked Niou on the lips before pulling back, blushing at what he'd just done. Niou gaped with wide eyes before snapping his mouth shut and abruptly standing up and getting out the bath, a fine blush staining his cheeks.

"I'll go get some towels." He announced loudly, fleeing the room.

"Okay." Marui answered to the empty room as he stayed in the bath, the warm water doing nothing to help his blush. "Okay."

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**A/N:** Finally, we are starting the romance arc, puri! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys either tomorrow or Monday, puri! Bai bai!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

On special request, I'm putting this chapter up today rather than tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it!

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**_Chapter Nine_**

Something was going on between Niou and Marui, the rest of the team decided the next day. Instead of sleeping with Niou, Marui seeked refuge with Jackal; Niou made strange choking noises whenever the other's name was mentioned; and neither could be in the same room as the other without blushing. All very strange indeed.

"What's going on between you and Niou-senpai?" Akaya asked bluntly as soon as he was alone with Marui. The boy flushed a red to match his hair.

"Nothing! Nothing at all! What makes you think something's going on?" He squeaked, his voice getting higher with every syllable to the point where Akaya could barely make out what he was saying.

"The fact that you're squeaking is a dead giveaway." Akaya said calmly. Marui blushed impossibly redder and Akaya vaguely wondered if he would faint from the amount of blood rushing to his face.

"Well, something kinda did happen did happen but I did it on impulse! I didn't mean it! Well, I did but, gah!" Marui let out a small, quiet scream of frustration before letting his head drop into his arms. Akaya blinked.

"O-kay." He said slowly. "So, what happened?"

"I kissed him." Marui mumbled. Akaya raised an eyebrow.

"You kissed Niou-senpai?" He asked. Marui nodded. "You _like_ Niou-senpai?" Marui nodded again.

"We've always been friends and as we got older and I learned about love, that friendship turned into something more. I always liked him and admired him for protecting me and not caring what anybody thought and for actually talking to me when he picked fights with everybody else, regardless of who they were or what they had or had not done and I guess that admiration turned into a crush and he's been so kind to me lately and he was so nice yesterday so I kissed him and now he hates me and, oh my God, I'm rambling." Marui finished with a small wail as he hid his face in his arms again. Akaya blinked, impressed.

"Wow, senpai, you must be great at swimming." He commented. "Also, about Niou-senpai, I don't think he hates you. He hasn't been throwing you disgusted looks, he isn't shouting about how being gay is disgusting and he hasn't said he hates you, now has he?" Marui shook his head. "See? Besides, I think Niou-senpai might like you back." Marui looked at him.

"What makes you think that?" He asked. Akaya pushed a book towards him.

"It's a photo album I made you." He explained. Marui nodded slowly as he opened the album. It showed various pictures of him with various members of the tennis team, mainly Niou to begin with and then other members after he joined the tennis team. The more recent photos showed Niou looking at him, Niou standing close to him, Niou with his hand just a little too low on Marui's waist to be just friendly. Marui bit his lip and looked up at Akaya again.

"Do you really think so?" He whispered. Akaya nodded.

"Also, you said it yourself. He's nice to you, protects you when you need it and talks to you freely even though he is usually about as trustful as Harry Potter around Draco Malfoy. And before you say he's like that with the rest of the team, may I please point at that the more Niou-senpai's tricks a person, the more he knows about them so the more he likes them and you are the target for more than half of his pranks. That's gotta mean something." Akaya pointed out. Marui nodded mutely, mulling the words over.

"I suppose you're right." He said quietly after a while. "But even if Niou isn't disgusted with me, aren't you, Akaya?" The second year shook his head.

"Nah, this is the twenty-first century. I might be childish but I'm not innocent." Marui smiled as he stood up.

"Thanks, Akaya. I'll go talk to Niou." He said as he jogged towards the door.

"Go get him, tiger!" Akaya called after him laughingly.

"Shut up!"

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Niou looked as Marui walked into the room, quickly ducking his head to hide his blush when he saw who it was. Marui walked over and stood in front of him, forcing Niou to look him in the eye.

"We need to talk." Marui said seriously, taking a deep breath and balling up his courage. "I love you! I have for a long time! I really, really love you!" Niou blushed, looking to the side slightly.

"I guessed but…" Marui closed his eyes as he waited for the rejection. "I feel weird kissing a five-year-old."

"I know, I'm sorry, please don't be- eh?" Marui was confused. Niou sighed, running a hand through his white hair.

"I like you too, okay? It's just that yesterday was a little surprising and I felt like a paedophile kissing a little kid." He mumbled. Marui blinked, finding it a little hard to fully comprehend the situation.

"So you like me? You don't hate me? You actually like _me_?" He questioned just to make sure. Niou nodded and suddenly found himself with an armful of Marui. "Niou, promise to kiss me when I'm back to normal."

"Only if you let me call you Bunta and if you call me Masaharu."

"Okay, Masaharu."

"Then I promise."

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**A/N:** Sorry this chapter is so much shorter than the others! Unfortunately they're not going to get any longer since there's only two chapters left and not much left to write... I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time!


	10. Chapter 10

I'm really sorry that this chapter is so short! I hope you enjoy it anyway...

**Disclaimer:** The genius work that is Prince Of Tennis belong to the genius mind of Konomi Takeshi..

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**_Chapter Ten_**

"Where is he?" Marui complained as he stood up to look out of the window, pulling up his T-shirt sleeve back up as it slipped off his shoulder. He was currently wearing a T-shirt that was way too big for him and a pair of boxer shorts. Niou sighed as he pulled Marui down for the seventh time.

"Yanagi'll get here when he gets here." He repeated. Marui nodded, fidgeting in his seat. Yanagi had called earlier that morning to say that a cure had been made and that he was on his way over. The only problem was that there had been an accident on the train tracks that was delaying Yanagi and Marui's return to normalcy.

"Don't worry, Marui-senpai. It's already been over a week, you can wait a little longer." Akaya said. He was the only one left, Yukimura, Yagyuu and Jackal having had to go home to appease their parents about not seeing them for most of the holiday. Marui looked like he wanted to retort but instead used that energy to look out of the window. Niou rolled his eyes and pulled his new boyfriend on to his lap.

"Calm down, Bunta." Niou said just before the doorbell rang. He sighed as Marui scrambled off his lap and raced to his door. Akaya and Niou followed him, opening the door to reveal Yanagi. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Greetings. I take that you are the only ones left? There was a high possibility of the others' parents forcing them home." He said as he looked round.

"What about my parents?" Akaya asked.

"There is a high possibility of them being glad about not having to put up with you for a week." Akaya pouted but was ignored as Marui impatiently butted in.

"What about this cure?" He demanded. Yanagi nodded as he pulled a small flask out of his bag.

"I have not forgotten, Marui. Here it is." Yanagi said as he poured a cup and handed it to Marui. "I must warn you, though, that you might experience similar symptoms as to when you turned chibi so I suggest you go to the bathroom or the like." Marui nodded as he started towards the bathroom. Akaya stopped him for a moment.

"Good luck, Marui-senpai." He said seriously as he shouldered his bag. "If you survive, I will see you on Monday. Have a good time with Niou-senpai! Bye!" With that said, Akaya left, dragging Yanagi with him in case something went horribly wrong and Niou tried to kill him. Marui absentmindedly waved goodbye before resuming his trek upstairs. Niou picked him carefully, making sure not to spill a drop of the liquid, and carried him to the bathroom.

"Let's get this over and done with." Niou sighed. Marui nodded before quickly downing the drink. He immediately turned green and lunged for the toilet, puking his guts out. Despite Yanagi's warnings, Niou still panicked slightly as Marui vomited violently before passing out. He picked the tensai up and quickly brought him to his room, tucking Marui into his bed and sitting next to him.

An hour passed before anything happened. Marui started shaking, gasping and crying out as his body grew rapidly, the loose clothes becoming less baggy as he returned to his normal size. Marui opened his eyes, tears gathered in the corners as he shakily took the hand that was caressing his face.

"Masaharu…" He whispered. Niou smiled as he stroked Marui's cheek with the side of his thumb.

"Welcome back Bunta." He said as he swooped down for a kiss. They stayed there for a few moments before Niou pulled back, a small string of saliva still connecting their lips.

"Thank you for keeping your promise, Masaharu." Niou shrugged abashedly.

"You kept your promise so it would be bad if I didn't keep mine." He mumbled. Marui smiled as he shifted over in his bed.

"Masaharu, stay with me please. Just for tonight." He asked, rolling the covers back. Niou slipped under the duvet and pulled Marui to his chest.

"Okay. Tonight and for as long as we are together and beyond. Promise." Marui's smile grew as he closed his eyes and snuggled into Niou's chest.

"Thank you."

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**A/N:** Once again, I am MEGA sorry that ths chapter so short. At least Marui turned back to normal though, ne? Also, don't worry about this story ending, there's still the epilogue to go ( or should it just be called Chapter Eleven. I can't decided...). I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next time!


	11. Chapter 11

So, this is the last installment of A Little Love. I decided on calling it a chapter instead of an epilogue in the end but if enough people tell me to change it then I will. I hope that this final chapter will continue the cute theme to the very end. Read and enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

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**_Chapter Eleven_**

Marui groaned and swiped at the person who was shaking him awake. He opened one eye to look at the alarm clock and groaned as he pulled a pillow over his face. It was only 9:30.

"Too bloody early." He grumbled before meeping as he was picked up bridal style.

"I know it's early but your family's home and they want to see you." Niou said as he carried Marui to the stairs. Marui struggled and jumped out of Niou's grasp, glaring as he walked down the stairs. Niou just rolled his eyes and followed. When Marui reached the bottom of the stairs he was attacked by two mini red hurricanes.

"Bunta-nii!" Marui rolled his eyes and returned the hugs.

"Hey Taichi, hey Daichi. Did you two have fun at camp?" He asked. The twins nodded enthusiastically.

"Uh huh! It was real fun!" Daichi chirped. "What about you? Niou-san said that the whole team stayed over while you were ill? Is it true? Did you get up to any wild parties? Did ya?" Before Marui could answer, his parents came in.

"Bunta, why is the living room such a mess? You knew we were coming home today so you could've at least made an effort to clean up!" His mother scolded, frowning at the boy. Before the boy could open his mouth, he was once again beaten to the punch, this time by Niou.

"Sorry Marui-san, but Bunta fell ill during the holidays. The team came round to look after him and only left yesterday. Bunta was still feeling tired from his illness so we didn't get round to clearing up." Niou said politely. Marui's mother looked surprised to hear Niou answering, having gone straight to Marui when she entered and thus not seeing the white-haired boy.

"Oh, hello Niou-kun. I didn't see you. If that's the case then I'll let you off, Bunta, but you'd better clean up now. And do it quietly, your father and I are tired from the plane journey and are going to bed." She said commandingly as she walked up the stairs. "Taichi, Daichi, could you please take your bags to your room?" She called back sweetly. The twins nodded, sending Marui sympathetic looks as they grabbed their bags and followed their mother. Niou's polite smile dropped as soon as the woman was gone and he pulled Marui close to him as he frowned.

"Bitch. She didn't even say hello to you." He growled. Marui just smiled and shook his head as he pulled the Trickster into the living room.

"It doesn't matter. At least she didn't go straight to bed without talking to me." Marui said optimistically as he picked up a bundle of blankets and started to walk out of the room. He was stopped by Niou pulling him back.

"You're still too easily pleased." Niou growled before pressing his lips against Marui's. Marui closed his eyes and dropped the blankets as he wound his arms around Niou's neck. They continued kissing until some giggling made them pull away. Marui blushed a bright red when he saw his brothers standing in the doorway.

"We were going to help but it looks like you would prefer it if we left you two alone." Taichi teased.

"We were wondering why Niou-san was calling you Bunta but now we know why." Daichi added as he chuckled. Marui leapt at the two.

"Shut it, you brats!" He shouted as the twins ran out of the room laughing. Niou laughed as he grabbed Marui by the waist and pulled him against his chest, pecking the redhead on the lips when he looked up at Niou. All was right in the world again.

**The End**

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**A/N:** So it's the end. I have to say it's been fun. I'd have to check this but did you know that every single review for this story contains either the word cute or adorable which is basically the same as cute? Talk about theme. Anyway, thanks for reading it to the end. I hope you enjoyed it and don't worry, I've got a couple of ideas for oneshots that I would like to write. Also, feel free to make requests as long as it's HaruMaru. Thanks again!


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